IN BOOKLAND

Hawera Star, Volume XLVII, 12 November 1927, Page 18

IN BOOKLAND

The two eons of Lieutenant John McGavock Grider, who live with their mother in Memphis, Tennessee, have received a considerable sum of money from the publication of "War Birds,” the dairy of an American airman, published with the diarist’s name withheld. Wilson Northcross, a friend of Lieutenant Grider (who crashed behind the enemy lines in France), is trustee for the children, and has the money under his care. The publication of “War birds” was arranged and handled by friends of Lieutenant Grider wi o served with him in France. It is one of the most remarkable of war books.

The approaching] visit to New Zealand of the Secretary of State for the Dominions lends unique interest to

‘“The Autobiography of Kingsley Fairbridge.” to which Air Amery furnishes a brief preface. The book is a suggestion for the solution of the problem of emigration and the scientific settlement of the people of the Empire. Mr. Amery describes the autobiography as a Pilgrim’s Progress, “the stoi-y of a vision seen bv a famished, fainting bov of 12 in the noon day glare of the veld—the vision of a waste land filled with homesteads—converted by the s ights of London streets into a definite pui pose, that of regenerating the childhood of our slums in the more spacious life of the liew lands.”

Mr John Jacques Hroussoii, Anatole France’s secretary, has compiled a second volume of reminiscences about his master. Translated by Mr John Pollock, it will be published in England by Thornton Butterwortli, with the tile of "Anatole France Abroad.” We are invited to travel with Anatole France in Brazil, Uruguay, and the Argentine and learn for the first time the secrets of the mysterious •‘Madame” who dominated the great author’s later life. SOME MODERN WRITERS. Mr. v Sidney Dark, the well-known London journalist, in his book of reminiscences, "Mainly About Other People,” says:—The 'journalist ’ perlorce meets all sorts and conditions of men, and if he is to keep his job he must have the, faculty of at least partiallv understanding them. The suet essful jouranalist is of all men the most difficult to fool. He is the last person -to he persuaded that the painted lath is really iron. Newspaper proprietors may make reputations that are accepted in the Pali Mall Clubs and suburban drawing-rooms, but if the reputations are inflated, reporters and sub-editors are not deceived. They read the copy before it is touched up., It would be amusing to catalogue the number of great men who have been "discovered’’ during the last five-and-twentv vears, whose greatness lasted only for the night, littleness returning in the morning. But' candour, even about eharlatons, is no longer possible. It has been too thoroughly exploited by the malicious. Writing of authors he has known, Mr Dark says . W. J. Locke has always been very dignified and gentle. E. Phillips Oppenheim is one of the cheeriest companions imaginable and one of the most desirable men with whom to spend an afternoon when luck, is out and life is hard to understand and to endure. There is not the smallest suggestion of affectation about Oppenheim. He works hard and methodically, and perhaps more than any other English novelist he has clis overed and exploited the financial possibilities of the cinema. A. S. M. Hutchinson was obviously frightened by success when it came to him. He is small and shy, and he might well be twentv years fewer than his fortyfour years. Simplicity is the note of his character. His wants are of the fewest, and lie had no sort of idea how to spend the comfortably large sums earned for him bv "If Winter Comes” and “This Freedom.” For years he was a journalist, and he is the only journalist I have ever met who has succeeded in remaining unsophisticated. E. Y. Lucas always reminds me of Kipling’s “cat that walked by itseV .” As a writer he has the appealing urbanity of Charles Lamb, but I do not think that there is much of Lamb’s urbanity in E. V. Lucas the man, the gentle-voiced, modern, rather weary, man of the world. The humour of the Lucas essays is sunny and kindjv. Tlie humour of Lucas himself is (ynrally tolerant. Lucas loves cricket and is a good man with whom to dine. His talk is stimulating and his taste in wine perfection. John Galsworthy looks like a family lawyer or a High Court judge. He is urbane, gentle, but certainly not expansive. Neatness < haracterises his appearance as well as )is writing. I imagine that few people l a e e\er called Mr. Galsworthy Jack. Wilfred Whitten, the editor of “John o' London's Weekly,” is one of the most attractive men of letters whom 1 have ever known. 1 venture to say that Whitten is certainly among the half-dozen best writers of English now living. He ivs a sound scholar, with a vast amount of out-of-the-way information. Never since Dr. Johnson took I is last walk up Fleet Street has there lived a man who has loved London as much as Whitten loves it, and he is Johnsonian in regarding * the Strand and Fleet Street as the only part of i ondon that really matters. He is capable of Johnsonian ’ scorn and of Johnsonian emphasis, and he is a dangerous man with whom to disagree, because lie is nearly always right. Hugh Walpole is a man of manner and a man of sentiment. He would be accurately described in certain circles as "a perfect gentleman.” He is precise, well-groomed. He dislikes being misunderstood. • He dislikes more still to be disliked. No man more thoroughly understands the gentle art of making friends. This is proved by liis popularity in America, where lie is liked almost as much as Earl Balfour. Rebecca West is one of the most gifted of living Englishwomen. She is a witty woman, and that is a rare distinction. Her wit is mordant, critical and audacious. Sheila Kaye-Smith is in every respect the entire antithesis of Rebecca West. She is a gentle, quiet, slim woman of little more than average height. There is nothing aggressive or combative about lier. .She suggests aloofness from everything that is coarse and material